Good video. As you can see in the video, when pointing high, turning the nose of the board from the upwind lay line to dead into the wind is prettly subtle. Once you decide to tack, you take about 3-5 seconds to head up until the board stalls, then tack. Coming out of the straps and rotating around the mast all occur very quickly. Planing tacks can be done in water that isn't so choppy.

21st September 2009 05:44 PM

John_O

Recent video of AUS120 includes a tacking sequence up close to the camera during a race in the recent Norwegian FW Championships; wind 25-30knots.

It's essentially the same as a standard shortboard tack only in a bit slower motion.

round up, with both feet out of the straps
place your front foot almost on the other side of the mastfoot
quickly step around the front of the board in one fluid motion
backwind the sail as you step around to maintain balance
once your on the other side sheet in so that the sail switches tacks

17th September 2009 04:30 AM

Del Carpenter

Obviously I blew it in not thinking about racing. Andreas and the others are correct, you need tacking as a formula racer.

Start carving a curve upwind. As the nose of the board gets closer to the eye of the wind, I want the mast hand to slide forwards on the boom, my back foot right behind the frontmost footstrap, the front foot in front of the mast, almost in contact with the mast foot. Sail is still raked back.

Most tutorials I have seen recommend that you sheet in hard when entering a tack. I'm not sure, as we sheet in hard in order to bear off, right? Sheeting in hard just seems to stop the board, I think. I prefer to leave the sail in a neutral position.

OK, the board is almost pointing straight into the wind, and you want to get to the other side of the sail in one movement. Cross the back hand over the front hand and reach round the mast to the boom on the other side. Do not stay in front of the mast, in that spot you'll be unstable. Once you've jumped round the mast, the hard part is pushing the nose down from the eye of the wind while at the same time moving your hands back on the boom and possibly your front foot into the strap for the first pumps.

To improve your tacks while sailing alone, you'll use a watch displaying seconds, initiate the tack at :00, tack, and check the time once you're on a plane and hooked in on the new tack. With friends, you can start your timers at the same time, sail upwind and tack every minute. That way you can compare how you do.

Note that the higher the boom, the more unstable you'll be when tacking.

Christian

10th September 2009 02:55 AM

nonopr

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thanks everybody.
Nonopr, when I grow up I want to be an idiot just like you.

You just did.......

9th September 2009 11:06 PM

Ken

Anyone racing Formula needs good, fast tacking skills, which takes practice. It's no different than any long board tack except for two issues.

1. Since the nose is short, there isn't enough floatation to stay on the nose, which means that you have to move around the mast from one side to the other with no pause in the middle.

2. If there is wave action (.5 to 1.5 meters), it can be tricky. Don't tack on the crest or back of the wave or you will fall in. Find a flat spot if possible & complete your tack before you go over the next wave crest.

It's easier than a short board tack (a lot more stable on the Formula board), but the movement is the same.

I usually stay in the back strap (front foot out near the mast) until the nose of the board goes through the wind. I guess there are lots of ways of doing this.

9th September 2009 07:18 PM

Unregistered

Regarding post # 10.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about FORMULA TACK, a little different from short board tack.

9th September 2009 06:11 PM

Unregistered

I've seen many sailors getting out of both straps before tacking and I've seen sailors taking only the rear foot out of the straps, pressure the windward rail and taking the front foot off just before placing the foot in front of mastfoot, what's the correct move?
Tnx.

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